Given that the contest deadline has been extended, I thought I would try to use the new George Washington LeBeaux piece and get more out of the USS Conscript. It was a bit disappointing last time to leave it with only a captain, and I wanted to see what I could do trying to build a fleet with the Conscript and LeBeaux at the same time. Apologies for using the Rattlesnake again, but the points just didn't work out for a different ship.

---Strategy---

The Rattlesnake serves here as the primary treasure ship. It's an expected appearance in an American fleet, and nothing fancy, but it will get the job done collecting treasure from closer islands.

The USS Conscript is the primary warship. The captain and helmsman are standard for a warship. Ralph David should give me a chance to use this ship again if it is sunk. Matthew Perry is here to add some desperately needed points. Both David and Perry should benefit from being on a turbine, since it will be impossible to capture and tow without cancelling the keyword. With all four spaces taken by crew, mermaids could be a serious problem for this loadout, but I am imagining a game without events, given the contest rules.

I would depend on the USS James Madison to give me an advantage. My plan would be to use the high S+L+S speed to pick up a few high-value treasure coins from medium-distance islands and stay away from the enemy. The plan will be to sneak around picking up treasure and staying out of harm's way, giving its action to either the USS Conscript or Rattlesnake with G.W. LeBeaux when either partner ship needs an edge more than Madison needs to move. The Madison's special ability should help the Conscript select targets and improve situational awareness in general.

I am using the RSS unique treasures Abandoned Charts and Seastar in hopes of compensating for a fleet somewhat weak in both the treasure-gathering and fighting departments. Abandoned Charts should help compensate for the Madison's lack of an explorer and maybe even help me track down the Seastar. Ideally, I could get the Seastar onto the Madison, where the repair action could be particularly helpful in keeping LeBeaux in the game by keeping the ship active.

---Substitutions:---

DJC George Washington LeBeaux = RSS George Washington LeBeaux

George Washington LeBeaux
RSS-012, Rare

American
Points: 6

Ability: Instead of giving this ship an action this turn, you can give another ship in your fleet two actions.

I think this fleet might be more fun to play with than my other entry, but I'm not necessarily sure it would be more effective.

This one might be too dependent on the Conscript as a fighter. It's a fun ship, but I don't see the cannons being lethal enough to take on larger gunships without help, and neither of the other two ships is really able to help in the fire support department--Madison's cannons are weak and Rattlesnake shouldn't be diverted from treasure. I think it would really come down to being able to successfully give the Conscript another action with G.W. LeBeaux and rolling well on the cannons. That and, of course, shooting first.

I thought of a few other ways to load up the Conscript more effectively, but they all came at the cost of the third ship, and I didn't see winning without three ships.

I'll be curious to see whether you think this fleet would be more or less competitive than the last one.

This looks like a pretty solid fleet - much better conceived than the first one. I like that LeBeaux is on the Madison, since the Rattlesnake is the primary treasure runner, meaning he might get more chances to use his ability.

Also, with Lebeaux in the fleet, the Conscript increases in value as a gunship, as she will always have an opportunity to take all her shots over again if she misses. Two tries withnthree cannons at 50/50 odds should yield good results, and she will have Ralph David's eternal ability to fall back on if not. Also, with the turbine ability, something David or Gus Schultz did not previously have at their disposal, it means an opponent will have to consider sinking her at some point - too bad one of the shipwrights you had earlier wouldn't fit onboard.

If you're referring to the Return to Savage Shores game pieces, you won't find them in the database here at MT since they were never added, because they weren't actually produced.

WHAT!! darn, I could've really used that version of LeBeaux to boost my American ships, which are woefully lacking in crew.

You can always use other ships and crew as proxies for the unreleased stuff. It wouldn't be tournament legal, but there aren't exactly many tournaments out there for the game anymore so that's mostly a non-issue. If everyone playing agrees to allow them, you're good to go.

You can find the full stats for everything in the set if you follow the link up in the beginning of this fleet's description.